Changes for elimination final v Essendon, Saturday 9 September

[mattybloods]

Where did you get the bull@@@@ that Essendon only play one ruckman Ludwig? It's absolute rubbish. The proof is STEWART, he is a 198cm ruckman. Even if they don't play Stewart and only play Daniher as second ruck he is 200cm. They have the advantage over us in the centre square of 10-12cm and both are fairly mobile. Leaving one ruck out doesn't give us any advantage at all. On the contrary we would be up against it big time.

We would lose the hitouts but that's about it. For me if Naismith can play at least 80% time in the ruck then I'd be happy leaving out Tippett and Sinclair. The difference between Sinclair/Tippett and Stewart/Daniher is they are selected as tall forwards and both play the role effectively. At the moment neither Tippett or Sinclair play the tall forward role well enough to be selected in that position

[Ludwig]

Good luck with one ruck look what happened against Carlton in the second quarter. Kreuzer killed us and set them up big time. All this talk of Essendon playing one ruck is total rubbish do you know where that came from Barry? Probably not, I don't either. Essendon use Stewart as second ruck and if he is not there they use Daniher.Stewart is 198 and Daniher 200.

This has already been completely debunked. The goals had nothing to do with ruck contests. If you have access to the replay, take a look for yourself.

Where did you get the bull@@@@ that Essendon only play one ruckman Ludwig? It's absolute rubbish. The proof is STEWART, he is a 198cm ruckman. Even if they don't play Stewart and only play Daniher as second ruck he is 200cm. They have the advantage over us in the centre square of 10-12cm and both are fairly mobile. Leaving one ruck out doesn't give us any advantage at all. On the contrary we would be up against it big time.

If they played both Bellchambers as well as Leuenberger, then I would say they are playing 2 ruckmen. Stewart and Daniher are forwards who play in the ruck when Bellchambers is rested, although their height does them an advantage, especially Daniher. Same as us playing Reid when our ruckman is resting. Calling Stewart a ruckman is the same as calling Reid a ruckman. Do we need an extra ruckman to go up against Stewart or Daniher? Or would one of our other players like Reid or Towers do well enough. The 2nd ruckman is not a 'free hit'; it means someone like Cunningham or Hayward get left out of the side. So we need to ask where would we get the most value.

I happen to think, BTW, that we will go with 2 ruckmen. I just don't agree with it.

[penga]

We all like to kick Towers a bit. But defensively, he's a terrific player!

I strongly disagree with this.. Watch the shallow kick into the 50 to an opposition halfback flanker, Towers is inevitably the one lagging behind to stand the mark. He really is good at standing the mark and watching the ball sail over his head, though.

[Flying South]

Once again I agree with Ludwig earlier that we can get away with only one ruck. Combining that with Bazza... How about:

In: Naismith, Hanners, Paps
Out: Cunningham, Tippo, Sinkers

You need Towers to pinch hit in the ruck, where he shows promise. It's a quicker side too.

We don't play two ruckman. We play a one ruckman and three tall forward structure. What you are essentially saying with your selection policy, is one ruckman and two tall forwards. So the debate us not one or two ruckmen, it us two or three tall forwards.

I favour the three talls because when Reid inevitably goes back as required, it still leaves us with two tall marking options. When we've only played two talls in the past and reid goes back, it only leaves Buddy up forward and the opposition puts two defenders on him. Three talls gives us so much more flexibility.

[liz]

It's all a moot point anyway. Does anyone really think that, when the team comes out on Thursday, two out of three of Naismith, Tippett and Sinclair won't be named?

The only way this might happen is if only one of them is fit.

[Hotpotato]

Nup , I don't, not for a millisecond.

[barry]

Swans in order of rucking abilities:
1. Naismith
2. Tippet
3. Sinclair
4. Towers
5. Reid
6. Daylight
7. Mcveigh

We play 5 genuine ruckman. It's a miracle we win any games.

[Hotpotato]

Parker puts his hand up too.

- - - Updated - - -

Parker puts his hand up too.

[Matty10]

It's a miracle we win any games.

And yet we do.

It is always an interesting debate, though. Do we play the players we (the Club) think will be the hardest to beat, or do we modify our team to address the strengths of our opposition? Our supposed weakness could be our strength in the end.


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[S.S. Bleeder]

Sounds good to me! As long as we're confident Naismith can play out the match

The problem is that their secondary rucks, although they are forwards, are really tall. Towers can't compete against them. I think, and hope, that Naismith will be the ruck and Sinclair or Tippett will be the forward/ruck. I'm not sure which one will get the gig. Tippetts ceiling is much higher than Sinclairs but his lows are terrible.

[Jeynez]

We have to go with Tippett + Naismith/Sinkers, anyone suggesting we only need 1 is not seeing the bigger picture.

There's no defense in the competition that can matchup all 3 of Buddy/Reid/Tippett... and then there's Rohan to worry about on top of that. Having Tippett will at the very least to take the pressure off of Buddy, and allows Reid to move into defense when needed without hurting our scoring power as much.

[Markwebbos]

It's all a moot point anyway. Does anyone really think that, when the team comes out on Thursday, two out of three of Naismith, Tippett and Sinclair won't be named?

The only way this might happen is if only one of them is fit.

Spoilsport.

Let's not forget Horse did drink Ludwig's Koolaid for a few games earlier this season. With relative success.

[Mountain Man]

I just looked up our Round 14 team V Essendon.

Ruck were Naismith and Sinclair.

Florent played as Jones was suspended for one match; otherwise team is likely to be the same R14 as 1st Final

[Ludwig]

Spoilsport.

Let's not forget Horse did drink Ludwig's Koolaid for a few games earlier this season. With relative success.

And also let's not forget that our Horse was the last pony to the trough. All the others are still drinking.

Horse loves Neighsmith. I'm sure he'll play.

[undy]

Umpires: Hosking, razor, Meredith